CVE-2020-8617
bind: A logic error in code which checks TSIG validity can be used to trigger an assertion failure in tsig.c
Severity
ImportantRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 3.1
Review impact separately from score.
Published · May 19, 2020
Updated · November 21, 2025
Description
An assertion failure was found in BIND, which checks the validity of messages containing TSIG resource records. This flaw allows an attacker that knows or successfully guesses the name of the TSIG key used by the server to use a specially-crafted message, potentially causing a BIND server to reach an inconsistent state or cause a denial of service. A majority of BIND servers have an internally-generated TSIG session key whose name is trivially guessable, and that key exposes the vulnerability unless specifically disabled.
Statement
Upstream has released additional information about this flaw. Details available at: https://kb.isc.org/docs/cve-2020-8617-faq-and-supplemental-information
CVSS score applicability
The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.
Mitigation
BIND servers have an internally-generated TSIG session key whose name is trivially guessable, and that key exposes the vulnerability unless specifically disabled. Upstream recommends using random value in session-keyname as a workaround. This can be added to named.conf configuration file.
CVSS / CWE
CVSS 3.1 · 7.5CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE-617 · Reachable Assertion